Nick Pavlidis, Esq., is a lawyer turned high-end thought leadership advisor, intellectual capital consultant, and book writing and publishing mentor, as well as the CEO of Authority Ghostwriting, a premier ghostwriting agency that helps thought leaders write and publish books that build relationships with prospects, influencers, and strategic networking partners even before the book is published.
Over the past few years, Nick’s books have appeared on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list five times, the USA Today bestseller list seven times, and achieved numerous additional accolades including being the #1 non-fiction book on all of Amazon and Barnes & Noble multiple time. Following Nick’s proprietary method, many of Nick’s clients achieve more momentum for their businesses even before their book is finished than many authors achieve over the life of their books.
Nick attributes his and his clients’ success regarding attracting ultra-high-net-worth clients to the premise that thought leadership is far more effective than traditional marketing. In fact, in Nick’s experience, writing and publishing even just one book (when done right) can out-perform some of the most sophisticated marketing strategies as he details in this exclusive interview with Private Wealth Magazine.
Russ Alan Prince: Give me some brief background about yourself and how you help professionals, entrepreneurs, and other thought leaders.
Nick Pavlidis: After graduating from Boston College Law School in 2004, I practiced corporate and bankruptcy litigation at a large law firm in New York City for about ten years, followed by about three years as one of two in-house attorneys for a private equity firm that owned 23 manufacturing companies around the world, working on commercial contracts and training their finance and sales teams on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering.
While working at the private equity firm, I met a lawyer-turned-ghostwriter whose insights spoke to my long-held passion for helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses. After extensive research into what made books and authors successful, I realized that the process used by most authors to write, publish, and promote books was tremendously flawed in a way that cost authors a lot of time, money, and opportunities.
Essentially, professionals, entrepreneurs, and others thought leaders were routinely making two big mistakes when writing books that I believed I could solve. And that’s what I sought out to do when I first started working with authors in 2015.
Prince: What are those two mistakes professionals, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders were making and how did it cost them?
Pavlidis: First, by far, the biggest mistake people make is not that they don’t write a good book; it is that they write the wrong book. Unfortunately, many freelance writers and even ghostwriters end up leading their clients to write the wrong book, simply by asking their clients what they want to say and helping them write it.
To be clear, there’s nothing nefarious about that. Many freelance writers are taught to be simple conduits for their clients. I can understand that approach. It’s easier and does give the clients what they ask for. I’ve taken a different approach from the start, however, with great success.
Second, even if people write the wrong book, most people write the book the wrong way. They hide in a corner typing away, often for years longer than necessary, until the book is complete. Others write their book too quickly.
Prince: Given these mistakes, how would you advise successful professionals, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders as they move forward?
Pavlidis: Simply put, when investing in writing a book, always begin with the end in mind. Whether you work with a strategic advisor with a track record of helping authors write books successful books or do it alone, ask yourself what you want to be doing three years down the road before you get started. Then write the book that positions you to achieve that goal. Make sure the book is written to the ideal reader, especially if you want to move upstream in serving a different clientele.
Next, utilize the book writing process to build relationships with strategic centers of influence, future referral partners, and the types of prospects you need to attract for you to be able to build the business you want in the future. These centers of influencers are the types of people who can introduce you to future ideal clients by the dozens or hundreds, a much more effective and affordable way to attract ultra-high-net-worth clients than traditional advertising methods.
Specifically, after my discovery process identifies my clients’ business and personal goals, I ask my clients, “What types of people do you need to build relationships with for that future to be your reality?” Then, we act as quasi-journalists to use the content we are creating for the book to build relationships with the centers of influence and referral partners they need to build the business they want to build.
We evaluate their network as well as my extensive network of high-end professionals that I’ve built over the past two decades as a lawyer and advisor to thought leaders around the world to identify an initial list of people we will reach out to as part of the book writing process. We then expand our networks by asking people we connect with for additional referrals to people who could add value to the book.
Altogether, the writing process takes about six to eight months for most books. However, we adjust the timeline based on the author’s goals and schedule so the book writing process doesn’t take them away from doing what they need to do with their business.
Russ Alan Prince is the executive director of Private Wealth magazine and chief content officer for High-Net-Worth Genius. He consults with family offices, the wealthy, fast-tracking entrepreneurs, and select professionals.